Wall Street stock futures moved higher Monday, as attention turned to the U.S. Federal Reserve’s rate setting meeting later this week amid and a flurry of deal news.

The Federal Open Market Committee meets Wednesday and policy makers are expected to trim the federal-funds rate by a quarter percentage point.

In today’s M&A news, Mars Inc. announced a deal to acquire Wm. Wrigley Jr. Co. for US$80 a share, or US$23 billion, with financial backing from Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway. The proposed deal would remake the global confectionery landscape.

There are no major economic releases from Statistics Canada today.

The Canadian dollar opened at 98.57 cents US, up 0.17 of a cent from Friday’s close.

In Canadian M&A news, Total E&P Canada Ltd. said it’s offering $9-per-share for small oilsands player Synenco Energy Inc. in a friendly deal valued at about $478 million.

In today’s earnings news, soft-drink maker Cott Corp. posted a first quarter loss of $20.7 million, or 29¢ per share, compared to year-ago profit of $4.8 million, or 7¢ per share.

Light, sweet crude for June delivery rose to a record US$119.93 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange following violence in Nigeria and a strike at a key refinery in UK.

The contract eased back to US$119.04 a barrel by noon in Europe, up 52¢ from Friday’s close of US$118.52.

Overseas, Japan’s Nikkei stock average was up 2.2% at 13,894.37, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong rose 0.59% at 25,666.29.

Britain’s FTSE 100 rose 0.42% to 6,117.10, Germany’s DAX index added 1.01% to 6,966.47, and France’s CAC-40 rose 0.86% to 5,020.86.

Commodities stocks buoyed Toronto markets Friday, as energy and metals stocks saw gains after three days of losses.

The S&P/TSX composite index closed up 137.54 points, or 0.98%, at 14,103.87, as six of the 10 major TSX groups posted gained.


The junior S&P/TSX Venture composite index closed up 10.10 points, or 0.41%, at 2489.20.

In New York, markets rallied in the afternoon to make up for losses spurred by grim consumer confidence data and weak earnings news from Microsoft Corp.

The Dow Jones industrial average closed up 42.91 points, or 0.33%, at 12,891.86. For the week, the Dow rose 0.3%.

The S&P 500 gained 9.02 points, or 0.65%, to close at 1,397.84. The S&P 500 gained 0.5% for the week.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite closed down 5.99 points, or 0.25%, at 2,422.93. The Nasdaq advanced 0.8% overall for the week.